Can dumping mechanism



Jan. 7,1947. I c. H. ABBOTT 2,413,900

CAN DUMPING MECHANISM-- Filed March 20, 1945 4 sheets-sheaf 1 TElswan/M00 (ff-E5502? Jan. 7, 1947. c. H. ABBOTT CAN DUMPING MECHANISM Filed March 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 TEE- 1947. c. H. ABBOTT 2,413,900

CAN DUMPING MECHANISM FiledMarch 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jan. 7, 1947. c ABBQTT CAN DUMPING MECHANISM Filed March 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Shet 4 awe/whoa mm w 7 72/ 5 @liz whw d Patented Jan. 7, 1947 H UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CAN DUMPING MECHANISM Claude H. Abbott, Astoria, Greg. Application March 20, 1945, Serial No. 583,709

Claims.

In my U. S. Patent 2,351,731 of June 20, 1944, a milk can dumping mechanism is shown for use in dairies, to be operated by water pressure. I found, however, that frequently the available pressure was not sufficient to operate the machine efiectively. It was, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide an improved machine eificiently operable by electric power, and this object. has been attained in an expeditious manner by means of the mechanism herein disclosed.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings is a side elevation showing a can in the cradle in readiness for dumping.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the dumping mechanism starting to effect the can-dumping operation.

Figure 3 is a. side elevation showing the mechanical can-dumping operation completed and the parts in readiness for return to normal position when final can-dumping is effected by hand and the can removed from the cradle.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse-sectional View on line 4-4 of Fig. 1. v

Figure 5 is a detail horizontal section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

The form of construction selected for illustration, will be rather specifically described, with the understanding, however, that within the scope of the invention as claimed, variations may be made.

A roller conveyor 6 is shown extending to a receptacle 1 into which the contents of milk cans 8, are to be discharged. A cradle 9 is pivotally mounted upon the frame ll! of the conveyor 6 for movement from the can-receiving position of Fig. 1 to the can-dumping position of Fig. 3. When the cradle reaches this Fig. 3 position, its mechanical movement is terminated. The cradle and can are then further tilted by hand to completely-discharge the-can contents, the can is removed from the cradle, and-both the cradle and its operating mechanism then return to the position of Fig. 1, by gravity. A can stop I I is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to arrest the next succeeding can while any can is being dumped, and at l2 a depressible roller has been shown to be depressed by any can entering the cradle 9, to effect operative positioning of said stop I i. The stop and its operating means, however, form no parts of the present invention and are disclosed in my U. S. Patent #2,399,087 of April 23, 1946.

The cradle 9 is suitably secured to a horizontal shaft l3 mounted. in appropriate bearings at the upper ends of two posts [4 which are secured to the frame l8 near the receptacle 1. Loosely pivoted for vertical movement upon the shaft i3, at one side of the cradle 9, is an arm I5. Secured to the shaft 3 at one side of this arm 45, is an arm i 6 having a lateral projection ll disposed over said arm 15, said projection being preferably rubber-covered for silence.- The arm 16 and its projection l1 establish a one-way driving connection between the arm 15 and the shaft I?) of the cradle 9, whereby after mechanical movement of the arm. I5 to the can-dumping position of Fig. 3, the can and cradle may be further tilted to the left. to complete emptying of the can and. to permit its removal from the cradle. The cradle then returns by gravity to the canreceiving position of Fig. 1. Any suitable stop means (not shown) may of course be employed to limit the can-dumpin movement of the cradle, and any appropriate means, such as the rubber bumper- It, may be employed to limit the return movement ofsaid cradle. It is also preferable to employ a pneumatic check It to cushion the re?- turn movement of the cradle and associated parts.

A pitman 23 is pivoted to the arm l5 and extends downwardly therefrom, the lower end of said pitman being pivoted to a crank 2i which is free to rotate upon a transverse shaft 22.

In the present disclosure, this shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing 23 secured upon a, shelf or the like 24 secured to the legs 25 of the frame H3.

Secured to the shaft 22 is a peripherally flanged wheel 26 having internal teeth 27 and external gear teeth 26. The complete circle at the peripheries of these teeth 28 is explained by the fact that helically pitched teeth have been shown. A crank-driving pawl 29 is pivotally mounted upon the crank pin 33 of the crank 21, and this crank pin preferably extends outwardly from the arm of the crank for connection with the pitman rod 29, andinwardly from said arm of the crank (see Fig. 5) to carry the pawl 29. This pawl 29 is urged toward theteeth 21 by means of a suitable spring 3i but is normally (see Fig. 1) prevented from engaging said teeth by means of a fixed arcuate track 32 which is substantially semi-circular. When the pawl 23 however is permitted to engage the teeth 27 (Fig. 2), the rotating wheel 26 which is constantly driven, turns the crank 2i to the position illustrated in Fig. 3, thus efiecting can dumping. At the completion of this mechanical can-dumping operation, the pawl 29 strikes the upper end of the arcuate track 32 (Fig. 3) and is thus released. When. this occurs, the pitman 2!], arm l5, and

crank 2| are held in the raised positions of Fig. 3 by means of a spring 33 connected at its lower end with said pitman 20 and connected at its upper end with one of the posts l4, said spring and pitman diverging upwardly as shown. While arm I5, pitman 29 and crank 2| are thus held in raised positions by spring 33, the cradle and can are completely dumped by hand and the can is taken off and sent to the washer. The cradle ii then returns by gravity until the projection I! of the arm I'S strikes the arm l5, whereupon the Weight of the cradle downwardly swings arm l5, pitman 2E! and crank 2|, the pawl 29 in the meantime sliding along the track 32 until the parts reach the positions shown in Fig. 1. The movement of these parts is arrested, however, while the pawl 29 is still on the track 32, as seen in Fig. 1. This is accomplished by means of a bumper or stop 34 disposable into and out of the path of the crank 2|. This bumper or stop, in the present disclosure, is mounted upon a lever 35 which is .fulcrumed to a J-shaped bracket 36 secured to the table or the like 26, said lever being normally raised to operatively position the stop or bumper 3 by means of a suitable spring 3?. A rod 38 is pivoted to and extends upwardly from the lever 35, said rod being pivoted to an arm 39 on a cross shaft 48 mounted in bearings on the post Hi. This cross shaft is provided with an operating handle M and when this handle is depressed, as seen in Fig. 2, it effects downward swinging of the lever 35, thus moving the stop or bumper 3 1 out of the path of the crank 2|, as seen in Fig. 2. When this occurs, the spring 33 which was tensioned by descent of the pitman 2|] after the prior can-dumping operation, pulls said pitman to the left, giving an initial turn to the crank 2|, sufiicient to pull the pawl 29 from the track 32, permitting said pawl to engage one of the teeth 21' of the wheel 26, with the result that this wheel again swings the crank 2| upwardly to produce another mechanical candumping operation which operation is terminated by release of the pawl 29 by means of the track 32 as shown in Fig. 3.

While the teeth 21 are shown in the form of ratchet teeth, they could obviously be abutments of any other desired sort on the wheel 25, and it is not necessary that the crank-driving member 25 be of the pawl shape herein disclosed, it being sufficient that this crank-driving member establish a driving connection between the wheel 2% and the crank 2| when permitted to do so. In some instances, a mere frictional engagement of a crank-driving member with the wheel might well be relied upon.

A gear head motor could of course be employed for rotating the wheel 26 which preferably turns about 23 revolutions per minute. Should the wheel then be directly secured to the driven shaft of the gear head motor, the external gear teeth 28 on said wheel would not of course be necessary. In the present disclosure, however, for illustrative purposes, the teeth 28 mesh with a pinion 42 on a shaft 43 mounted on the shelf or the like 24, said shaft being driven by a belt drive 44 from an electric motor 45.

From the foregoing,'taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made for attaining the desired end. While excellent results can be obtained from the general construction shown and described, attention is again invited to the possibility of making variations within the scope of the invention as claimed.

For mounting the track 32, arms 46 are showri secured to the bearing 23.

I claim:

1. In a mechanism of the class described, a driven wheel and a crank mounted coaxially for relative rotation, a crank-driving member movably mounted on. said crank and engageable with said wheel to drive said crank, a fixed arcuate track in the path of said crank-driving member for releasing the latter when said crank has been driven part of a-revolution, said track being also effective to hold said crank-driving member released while said crank is being otherwise turned for the remainder of said revolution, a relatively stationary shiftably mounted stop for arresting this turning movement of said crank before said crank-driving member leaves said track, means for releasing said stop when said crank is to be driven, and means operative upon release of said stop for initially turning said crank until said crank-driving member leaves said track and engages said wheel.

Li. A structure as specified in claim 1; said means for initially turning said crank comprising a spring exerting a turning force thereon.

. A can-dumping machine comprising a pivot mounted cradle, a vertically swingable normally lowered arm mounted near said cradle. one-way connection from said arm to said cradle for tilting the latter to a predetermined can-dumping position when said arm is moved from said normally lowered position to a predetermined raised position and for then permitting further and final can-dumping movement of said cradle by hand without further moving said arm, a pitman connected with and extending downwardly from said arm, spring means for holding said pitman and said arm against descent during said final hand-effected movement of said cradle, said cradle when returned to its canreceiving position serving to again lower said arm and pitman and to stress said spring means, a crank connected with said pi'tman for raising it to move said arm to said predetermined raised position, a driven wheel coaxial with said crank, a crank-driving member movably'mounted on said crank and engageable with said wheel to establish a driving connection from said wheel to said crank to raise said pitman, a fixed arcuate track concentric with said wheel and cooperable with said crank-driving member to release this member when the can-dumping movement of said crank is complete, said track being aise effective to hold said crank-driving member in released position while said crank and pitman return to lowered position, a stop for arresting the return movement of said crank before said crank-driving member leaves said track, and means for releasing said stop when a can-dumping operation is to be started, the aforesaid spring means when stressed exerting a force tending to turn said crank in can-dumping direction, whereby upon release of said stop said spring means will impart an initial movement to said crank in a direction to move said crank-driving member from said track for reengagement with said wheel.

l. A structure as specified in claim 3; said spring means consisting of a spring connected with said pitman and acting obliquely thereon when stressed, to exert both an upward force and a crank-turning force on said pitman.

5. In a mechanism of the class described, a driven wheel and a crank mounted coaxially for relative rotation, a crank-driving member movably mounted on said crank and engageable with said wheel to drive said crank, a fixed arcuate track in the path of said crank-driving member for releasing the latter when said crank has been driven part of a revolution, said track being also effective to hold said crank-driving member released While said crank is being otherwise turned for the remainder of said revolution, and a relatively stationary stop for arresting this turning movement of said crank before said crank-driving member leaves said track, said stop being re leasable when said crank is to be driven, whereby an initial turn of said crank will then move said crank-driving member from said track for reengagement with said wheel.

CLAUDE H. ABBOTT. 

